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καταρράκ-της , ου (from καταρράσσω), or κατ-α^ράκτης (from καταράσσω, cf. Eust.1053.5);
A.“ὦ κατα^ράκται” Epigr.Gr.979.7 (Philae).
I. as Adj., down-rushing, “ὄμβρος” Str.14.1.21.
2. sheer, abrupt, “τὸν καταρράκτην ὀδόν” S.OC1590 (cf. Sch.; “καταφράκτην” Suid. s.v. ὀδός).
II. as Subst., waterfall, cataract, esp. of the Nile, D.S.1.32, 17.97, Str.17.1.2 and 49, Epigr.Gr. l.c.:—Ion. Καταρρήκτης , name of a river in Phrygia, Hdt.7.26.
2. portcullis, Plu.Ant.76, Arat.26, D.H.8.67.
3. trap-door, “οἱ κ. τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἠνεῴχθησαν” LXXGe.7.11, cf. 4 Ki.7.2.
4. movable bridge, for boarding ships, App.BC5.82; for attacking elephants, D.H.20.1.
5. sluice, Hld.9.8.
6. a sea-bird, prob. so called from swooping down upon its prey, Ar.Av.887, Arist.HA509a4, 615a28, Juba 68a, Dionys.Av.2.2, 3.22; cormorant, Hebr.shālâkh, LXXDe.14.16(17), al.; of an eagle, S.Fr.377; of the Harpies, ib. 714.
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

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